The spectrum of geographical ranges of species of Odontiinae in North America differs from that of related subfamilies such as Scopariinae, Nymphulinae, Glaphyriinae, Evergestinae and Pyraustinae, though all these subfamilies have wide global ranges. Of 57 species only five are primarily eastern. Of these, three are tropical species that enter southern Florida, one is a northern disjunct closely related to Neotropical species, the fifth is widespread in eastern North America and has no obvious close relatives. Six western species are alpine or subalpine. Three of these belong to one superspecies ranging from Oregon to Baja California, two others are Sierran or Sierra-centered, one is a Colorado disjunct with close relatives in the mountains of Europe and Asia. One additional species is restricted to Colorado; its ecology is unknown but is most likely temperate. There is one restricted temperate species in California and Oregon, one in Utah, and one in northwestern Arkansas. Five primarily western species or species pairs have wide temperate ranges, four of them range south into the tropics. Three of the members of this range class belong to the single genus Frechinia, comprising five of its six species. The remaining 34 species belong to the southwestern eremic class. Of these one is limited to the southwestern Great Basin; 12 are centered in southern California and western Arizona, but two of these are represented in the dry interior of Washington, one by a disjunct population, the other by a vicarious species; 15 are centered in southern Arizona and(or) New Mexico; six are centered in western Texas. There is a comparable development of the subfamily in the arid areas of the Old World, especially in western and central Asia. The relationship between the New World and Old World eremic complexes is probably multiple. It appears to be mainly at the suprageneric level.